Insurance Policy
by Akanesi
Summary: What ARE the Drums? What is the Master's real destiny? This is my take on it.


**Author's Note: **Hi, readers! This is set during and after the last few minutes of "The End Of Time - Part 1". This is my view of what the Drums could be. Hope you like!

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We said from a very early age, me and the Master, that we were going to be free from the way our species lived their lives. The dusty books we were made to be buried in every second of every day seemed _boring _to us, and we just wanted to get away so badly.

The questions we asked about the outside universe were shot down, as a subject that wasn't fit to be discussed by up and coming royalty. We spent most of out first regeneration on that planet, paying heed to the whims of… cowards. A life among thirteen, lost forever, merely because of who we had been born to.

And so I ran; before you, you say. You say you left me behind, but I had no choice. Because after I ran from Gallifrey, they tried to find me. They hunted me, with only one intent in mind. They wanted to make an example out of me.

And when they caught me, you were so far into the black hole, both literally and figuratively, that I couldn't hope of rescue from you. And so they changed me. They took what made me, and changed me… and someone different walked away.

They said I was putting people in danger, and I shouldn't be aloud to walk the universe free. So they caught me, they caged me, they gave me a mission. They tried to break me.  
_  
_They said I was a coward for not having called them sooner, when the War Games broke out. They said that I was a disease that they shouldn't have to suffer.

But I _made _it on my own. I took that planet Earth, and turned the sky to diamonds.  
_  
_I proved the great and powerful Time Lords wrong. I told them nothing would break me and you. We fought across Earth and not once did I use that code that was left in my mind by them, to alert them to your presence. It would have been so easy… too easy.

The pact we swore so _long_ ago still burns at our hearts, and I can't wonder if what you're doing now is burning you up. Because, in some way, you're saving the Time Lords. You're saving our oppressors.

You're populating a world with Time Lords, with _you_. Earth was always my favourite, you said, and now there's no Earth, there's only you. But you were always my favourite.

You're trapped in this machine, parts of your soul littering the Earth. _Six billion_ Time Lords. _Six billion_ of you. And there's no one left to kill you. I've never been strong enough, and there's no one left who hates you enough to kill without reason. What am I going to do?

My mind's working so fast I can barely stand it. What are you going to do next? What am _I_ going to do? What's going to happen? How did this happen? Why can't you just be Koschei?

I'm staring you down. Well… the real you; the one in the machine. The rest of you have fallen silent, as if they wish they were the one I was staring at, and Wilf is terrified, babbling on about Donna.

"I'm going to stop you."

You swallow. You're afraid of me. I can't help but feel pleased. "Not with what's coming," you whisper.

"What's coming?"

You smile. It's not a nice smile.

I run as fast as I can through the corridors. If I can just make it back to the TARDIS I'll be safe. I can hear pounding feet behind me. It reminds me of the Future Kind, back when this all started. I round a corner, coming to a skidding stop as I see the TARDIS, and one of you leaning against it.

I whirl round, seeing you jog round the corner. You knew.

"You want to know what's inside my head?" You articulate every word with a step forward.

I remain silent.

He chews at his lip, waiting me out.

I hear Wilf screaming, and start forward.

"Ah-ah-uh." He points a gun at me.

"What's in your head?"

You smiles again.

"My head?" Your breathing quickens, and you swallows. "Inside my head… are the Time Lords. Their insurance policy. I didn't run from the Time War because I was scared. I ran because they told me to. Every single one of your humans will become a new, better Time Lord, from here." You tap your head.

"But… that's not possible." I shake my head.

"Just because they didn't choose you," you sneers.

"Why?"

He looks taken aback. "Why what?"

"Why save them?"

You frown at me, as if seeing me for the first time. "They're our own."

"But we're free."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're saving a race that tied us down, that cost us lives. You let them in your head!" Oh god, what am I doing?

"They are our own!" you roar. The other yous that surround us are nodding, looking at me in shock.

"We're free," I repeat slowly. "There's no one to chase us. It's been the best time of my life."

Anger crosses your face. I'm saying what you always wished I would say. Except now, it's at the wrong time. "No," you sigh. "You choose… choose to stop me, and remain _free_. Choose your humans. Or choose the Time Lords. Stand at my side as we win the final war."

You raise your gun into the air. The other yous around us do the same, raising guns, knives, or clenched fists. "For Gallifrey! For victory! For the end of Time itself!"

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**Author's Note:** Hope everyone liked this and remember, reviews make me breathe. :)

The mention of the Master being both literally and figuratively inside a blackhole, was a reference to an old Doctor Who book that detailed the 1st Doctor meeting the Master and locking him inside a blackhole. It took the Master most of his regenerations to escape, which is why he has so few when he meets the 3rd Doctor. I also make reference to this in chapter 2 of "Returning To The Start".

The mention of the War Games is a reference to the 2nd Doctor's last episode, entitled "War Games". At the end of this episode he turned himself into the Time Lords knowing that they would punish him, because he needed them to save the humans. He tried everything he could to prevent himself having to call them, but in the end, of course, had to. They forced him to regenerate and trapped him on Earth, with no way to escape.

So my theory is that the Master was turned into a kind of living Matrix. For those of you haven't seen the original series, and just went "what?" the Matrix was where a Time Lords' consiousness went after they'd used up all their regenerations. So effictively, they couldn't die. My theory is that the consiousnesses of all the Time Lords have been put into the Master's head. There's no wonder he's a but mad, is there?

I think that's everything. Review? :)


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